Facts, Stats, and Trends from the 2019 Junior World Championships

Last week the Junior World Championships were held in Tallinn, Estonia and it marked the start of the world championship season. Thirty wrestlers across three styles came away with gold medals and provided a brief glimpse into the future of their countries respective Senior world teams. The Americans combined to return home with ten medals, throughout the three tournaments, which is a solid showing, overall. Here are some numbers, facts, and trends from the Junior World Championships, most of which focus on our wrestlers though some pertain to other countries.

Men’s Freestyle

Record vs. each country

4-0 vs. Iran

3-0 vs. Georgia

2-0 vs. India

2-0 vs. Kyrgyzstan

2-0 vs. Mongolia

1-0 vs. Belarus

1-0 vs. Canada

1-0 vs. China

1-0 vs. Latvia

1-0 vs. Ukraine

2-2 vs. Russia

1-2 vs. Japan

1-3 vs. Azerbaijan

1-1 vs. Turkey

23-8 overall

Record in Medal Matches

4-2

Wins: Two gold and Two bronze

Losses: Two gold medal matches

The United States finished second behind Russia. A win by Mason Parris in the 125 kg finals over Iran clinched second place for the Americans. Had his Iranian opponent won they would have taken over second place and left us with third.

The Americans went 9-4 against the other four teams that finished in the top five (Russia, Iran, Japan, India).

For the fourth consecutive year, the United States produced a world champion at 74 kg (David Carr; 2019, Mekhi Lewis; 2018, Mark Hall; 2016-17)

For the third time in four years, the US has crowned multiple world champions. (Carr, Mason Paris; 2019, Daton Fix, Hall, Gable Steveson; 2017, Spencer Lee, Hall; 2016)

David Carr’s gold medal made him the first Junior World Champion for the Iowa State program.

The men’s freestyle team started strong with only one medal from the first day of competition, while all five wrestlers from the second day came away with hardware.

Russia, the team champions, came away with a pair of gold medal winners, four world finalists, and eight medals total.

Deepak Punia, the world champion at 86 kg, was the first wrestler from India to win a gold medal in Junior men’s freestyle since 2001 when the country had a pair of world champions.

Azerbaijan, typically one of the world powers in freestyle, failed to produce a world finalist for the first time since 2007.

Erik Arushanian (70 kg) won the first Junior world title in men’s freestyle for Ukraine since Muradin Kushkov did so back in 2010.

The only Junior men’s freestyle champion to win a second title was Abbas Foroutanrami (Iran) at 97 kg. He was the winner last year at 92 kg.

Women’s

Record vs. each country

2-0 vs. Brazil

2-0 vs. Kazakhstan

1-0 vs. Belarus

1-0 vs. Poland

1-0 vs. South Korea

1-0 vs. Spain

1-0 vs. Turkey

1-2 vs. Germany

0-1 vs. Ecuador

0-1 vs. Kyrgyzstan

0-1 vs. Moldova

0-2 vs. China

0-2 vs. Japan

0-2 vs. Russia

0-2 vs. Ukraine

10-13 overall

Record in Medal Matches

0-3

Losses: One in the gold medal match; Two in bronze medal matches

For the second consecutive year, Macey Kilty was the only Junior World medalist for the American women. In both years, she has taken the silver.

The last American woman to make multiple Junior World finals was Adeline Gray who did so in 2008 (gold) and 2011 (silver).

The US has a streak with at least one Junior Women’s world medal in every year since 2005.

As expected, Japan dominated the competition; however, even more so than normal. Japanese women captured gold medals in eight of the ten weight classes contested.

Japan’s Yui Susaki won her second consecutive Junior World title at 50 kg’s. She now has SEVEN world championships under her belt. Two as a Junior; Two as a Senior; Three as a Cadet.

Milaimys Marin Potrille, at 76 kg, became the first woman ever to have won a world title for Cuba.

Poland’s Patrycja Gil, at 55 kg, was the first woman to win a world championship for her country since 1999. Poland had a great showing as a team coming away with four medals total. They had none in 2018 and only four total in the past ten years.

Along with Susaki, Sae Nanjo (Japan) at 59 kg, joined her fellow countrywoman by capturing her second Junior world title.

Greco-Roman

Record vs. each country

1-0 vs. Azerbaijan

1-0 vs. China

1-0 vs. Egypt

1-0 vs. Hungary

1-0 vs. Italy

1-0 vs. Kazakhstan

1-0 vs. Lithuania

1-0 vs. South Korea

1-0 vs. Turkmenistan

3-1 vs. India

1-1 vs. Iran

0-1 vs. Austria

0-1 vs. Georgia

0-1 vs. Japan

0-1 vs. Sweden

0-1 vs. Turkey

0-1 vs. Ukraine

0-1 vs. Uzbekistan

0-2 vs. Russia

13-11 overall

Record in Medal Matches

2-1

Wins: Two bronze

Loss: One gold medal match

The US Junior Men’s Greco-Roman team’s had one of their best showings the history of the program. It marked the first time that the Greco team had ever produced three medalists (Cohlton Schultz – silver, Alston Nutter – bronze, Peyton Omania – bronze) in a single year (even dating back to the Espoir days).

The Americans have now won multiple world medals for the fourth straight year. Before 2016, this had not occurred in back-to-back seasons.

Schultz’s second Junior world medal (bronze in 2018) makes him the first American since Ellis Coleman (bronze in 2010 and 2011) to win multiple Junior world medals in Greco.

Since 2011, the United State has earned 14 medals in Junior Greco. Five of them have come from heavyweights. Schultz with two, Adam Coon (bronze) in 2014, Sam Stoll (bronze) in 2013, Toby Erickson (bronze) in 2011.

For the third straight year, the US has placed a wrestler in the Junior Greco world finals. Schultz, Andrew Berreyesa in 2018 and Cevion Severado and Kamal Bey in 2017.

All three world medalist for the US had previous Junior World-level experience. It was the second team for both Nutter and Omania and the third for Schultz.

The Russian team came away with the team title after crowning four champions, with two others losing in the finals. It marks the third straight year that Russia has won a Junior Greco team title.

Turkey’s Kerem Kamal was able to win his third consecutive world title. The last two have come at 60 kg, while his first, in 2017 was at 55 kg.

Both Cuba and Hungary ended long title-less droughts after Gabriel Rosillo Kindelan (Cuba – 97 kg) and Istvan Takacs (Hungary – 82 kg) earned gold medals. The last Junior World champ in Greco for Cuba came in 2009, while Hungary’s previous champ was in 2012.